Eric Berne (* 10. May 1910 in Canada, "† 15 July 1970) was a native Canadian, who emigrated later into the USA. He was an important psychiatrist 20. Century.

Life

Eric Berne was born 1910 as Eric Lennard amber in It developed the transaction analysis (TA) as psychotherapeutisches procedure, which it derived from the psychoanalysis.

Eric Berne: Ambitiously, but rejected

Eric Berne, physician and psychiatrist, gave fifteen years up after lasting training the attempt to get the title of a Psychoanalytikers recognition. When 1956 its request around the membership and the associated acknowledgment were rejected as Psychoanalytiker by the San Francisco Psychoanalytic of institutes, he separated - as he said - "“in good agreement"”. Probably this rejection for it was quite painful; it strengthened however in it its old ambition to extend the theory of the psychoanalysis. About the reasons of its refusal he, probably from anger, spoke never. I assume that he did not want to adapt to the psychoanalytischen concept sufficient; and in this attitude I met it still two years later. Its main point at issue with the psychoanalysis was at this time its view that a really good therapist had to enter itself more actively into the therapeutic process, than it permitted the psychoanalytische concept at that time.

The project "“intuition"”"…

Ten years long it had concerned itself with "“intuition"” during the diagnostic process. Its interest for this developed, when it had to work on in the position of an army psychiatrist daily the documents rope that army-dismissed and to its own maintenance a small play tested: It placed the questions to the men "“is nervous and "“goods it already once with a and tried to guess from the answers to these two questions the occupation of the man. It succeeded to it particularly with mechanics and farmers well to tap correctly. It wrote the experiences and discoveries, which he made thereby, in a set from essays to the topic intuition down (see for this the recapitulatory work of Dusay, 1971). These work culminated in the discovery of the transaction analysis.

"… led to the beginning of the concept "“transaction analysis"”

As a physician he had learned to diagnose "“Psycho pathological"” to arrange its patients from the point of view of the psychiatry and prescribe for them alone due to its medical position, like it "“to be should"”. It was unusual it and did not fit also its prescribed role to trust its direct perception and to include it accordingly into its practical work. At this point it stopped, "“the old melody paraphrasieren"” and "“began, to the patients correctly to listen"”, as it said occasionally. Thus Berne began to include its realizations over intuition into the therapeutic work. Instead of using the terms and categories of the learned psychiatrist, instead of explaining someone for example as the "“heavy case of latent or as a "“paranoiden Schizophrenen"”, it joined in completely for the person concerned and made themselves with the help of his intuition a picture of it.

Ego image as basis concept

In the consequence Berne used ego the image in its therapeutic practice and could determine that he could develop a much more effective and more helpful relationship with its direct realizations (his intuitions) with the feelings and experiences of its patients, as by diagnostic terms, how he was used to it as psychiatrists so far. It succeeded to it to seize with each patient ego an image which referred to its childhood, then could it into each anamnesis gradually the self pictures of the patient than child include. Here the childhood self picture of a woman: "“A small blond girl stands before a fenced garden of full or a man was "“a boy on the passenger seat, during its father at full speed drives"”.

Discovery of the "“I conditions"”

Finally he discovered that in each humans ego an image from the childhood is; it called it "“I conditions"” (ego states). Later Berne differentiated between the I condition from the childhood of the I condition of the adult, whom the person concerned represents outward and who is most clearly visible for the outstanding one. It differentiated between finally two I conditions of the adult; , he "“Erwachsenen-Ich"” (ego state adult) called and who he as rationally designated, and a second, not necessarily rational, whom he called "“Eltern-Ich"” (ego state parent), because Berne understood him derived as of parents.

Completed theory

It continued its observations with patients and won ever more distance from contents of its earlier training. He discovered the meaning of stroking units and time structuring. He finally observed transactions, plays, pastime and script. Toward end of the sixties its theory was nearly completely developed. Finally he did completely without the usual psychiatric diagnosis. Often it told a joke about the way, in which people are diagnosed: If the person shows less initiative than the therapist, then she is called passive dependent; if the person shows more initiative than the therapist, then it concerns a Soziopathen. Theoretically it remained always connected with the psychoanalysis. It lost however with the years at meaning for its thinking; in its group work it had finally no more meaning.

TA: First a concept human behavior - later one for the "“healing"”

Originally it was better the opinion that the transaction analysis could help only, interhuman behavior to steer (social control), to thus steer the "“Ausagieren"” whereas the psychoanalysis would be capable the genuine therapeutic work of carrying out. He saw gradual that the transaction analysis played the main role with the "“healing"” of the patient and only the difficult procedure of the script analysis psychoanalytischer technology was reserved. Finally it implemented also the script analysis without psychoanalytische methods. Bernes psychoanalytischer background became only recognizable with occasional drop representations.

Source: Claude Steiner, like one life plans changes, dtv, ISBN 3-423-35053-9

Works

• The mind in action, 1947, Simon & shoemaker, new York
• Games People Play, 1964, Grove press Inc., new York, German: Plays of the adults, 1970, Reinbek, Hamburg

Literature

• Jorgensen, Elizabeth W.: Eric Berne, master gamesman: A transactional biography. - New York: Grove, 1984. - ISBN 0-394-53846-3

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